Archive for expectations – Page 2

After what happened with the BP Gulf oil disaster, the explosion that took so many lives, that devastated so many more, you'd think that we'd wise up about oil drilling, especially deep water drilling. Especially drilling in areas that are even more difficult to clean up in the event of another deadly catastrophe.

But no. Learning from our mistakes and moving on to clean, renewable energy sources is something many continue to resist, despite the toxic effect of fossil fuels on our planet and its inhabitants.

So now Shell is salivating at the thought of drilling in the Beaufort Sea, maybe even by this summer, and they're being aided and abetted by the Interior Department who issued them permits to do just that.

Days after the Obama administration approved Royal Dutch Shell's oil spillresponse plan for drilling in Arctic waters off the Alaska coast, an independent federal report said that Shell's plan fails to take into account the risks unique to oil production in harsh, icy offshore conditions. [...]

The report raised questions about whether wellhead equipment could withstand ice that scoured along the sea floor.

Interior officials told the report's authors that if a blowout occurred after the drilling season ended in October, the sea's surface ice could make it difficult for Shell's icebreakers to get to the accident site and install containment equipment. [...]

If a blowout did occur, Shell and the oil industry might not have enough boats and people in place to deal with it, the GAO report said.

There's more where that came from.

Shell's spokesperson said (italics mine), "We believe our plan, vessels and equipment are the Arctic standard. In addition to Arctic capping and containment systems, our three-tier response plan was specifically assembled to mitigate environmental impact in the hugely unlikely event of well control incident."

The last thing I would put any stock in would be Shell's "beliefs" and reliance on what they determine to be "unlikely," especially after the "unlikely" Fukushima event that nobody expected. Rule of thumb: Expect the unexpected.

If I sound biased, that’s because I am. Biased toward the actual record, not the spin; biased toward a president who has conducted himself with grace and calm under incredible pressure, who has had to manage crises not seen since the Second World War and the Depression, and who as yet has not had a single significant scandal to his name. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” George Orwell once wrote. What I see in front of my nose is a president whose character, record, and promise remain as grotesquely underappreciated now as they were absurdly hyped in 2008. And I feel confident that sooner rather than later, the American people will come to see his first term from the same calm, sane perspective. And decide to finish what they started.

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